Waterloo-Wellington has shortest ER wait time

8.7 hours may seem forever if you’re sick — but it’s half the provincial average

WATERLOO REGION — The next time you’re sitting in the emergency department waiting for a hospital bed, take comfort knowing Waterloo Region has the shortest wait time in the province.

The average time admitted patients spent in the emergency department in Waterloo Wellington in 2016 was 8.7 hours, compared with the provincial average of 15.2 and the longest wait of nearly 20 hours.

Emergency wait times are among dozens of indicators included in Health Quality Ontario’s annual report on the performance of the province’s healthcare system, as broken down by local health networks.

“Having all this data is absolutely crucial for us,” said Connie MacDonald, speaking for the Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network.

“It really does help us identify gaps in the health-care system and where we need to add focus,” she said. “It also helps us identify where things are working.”

The latest report shows big strides locally in reducing the use of antipsychotic medication among long-term care residents without psychosis.

The percentage here was 19.1 per cent, a statistically significant difference from the provincial average of 22.9 per cent.

A few years ago, this was a problem area locally.

“Our long-term care homes have put a lot of effort into this,” MacDonald said.

One particular area of concern highlighted in the report is distress among informal caregivers of home-care patients.

Waterloo Wellington has one of the highest percentages of caregivers reporting distress, anger and depression in the province. The local percentage was 30.7, compared with the lowest of 16 per cent and highest at 43.5 per cent.

“We’re not doing well compared to the rest of the province,” said MacDonald, adding that the health network is looking for ways to better support home caregivers.

Emergency department waits were another idea where this region performed well.

“Again, another area of focus,” MacDonald said.

And wait times there are also a good indictor of how the rest of the health-care system is flowing because it shows patients are able to move into more appropriate settings, whether that’s a hospital bed or home care.

Wait times for discharged patients, both high and low acuity, were at about or below the provincial average in Waterloo Wellington, along with the wait for initial assessment.

Waterloo Region’s emergency rooms did pretty well seeing patients who were not admitted to hospital within provincial target times, according to numbers from October.

At Grand River Hospital, the stay for low-urgency patients was on average of 3.6 hours and 67 per cent of patients finished their visit within the target time of four hours. The average stay for highurgency patients not admitted was 4.9 hours, with 87 per cent finishing their visit within the eighthour target.

At St. Mary’s General Hospital, low-urgency patients stayed on average 2.5 hours, with 85 per cent seen within the target time. Highurgency patients stayed on average four hours with 95 per cent finished within the target visit time.

At Cambridge Memorial Hospital, low-urgency patients stayed on average 2.4 hours, with 87 per cent seen within the target time. Highurgency patients stayed on average 3.5 hours with 97 per cent finished within the target visit time.

Just under half of patients were admitted to local hospitals from emergency within the target time of eight hours: 49 per cent at Grand River and Cambridge and 45 per cent at St. Mary’s. The average local wait was just over 11 hours.

MacDonald is pleased with the volume of data on local health care now available, especially since it is all publicly available (www.hqontario.ca). She said that gives people a chance to look at the numbers and ask questions.

“We want to be held accountable.”